Testicles

I need to stop bitchin' about how I need a DSLR, but dude! I am so ready for one now.... my old point and shoot 5.1 MP Sony Cyber-Shot just isn't doin' it for me anymore.... not that I don't appreciate all the great shots it's taken for me over the years, but I've played with all it's settings already and I've reached the plateau of it's learning curve... I need more power, more control, more MP's.... as you can see from my sorry attempts at macros....

They're not that bad actually, but they're not great.... I'm ready to learn how to do great... you know the kind of great where you take a picture of a bee pissing on a flower and the droplets of urine are captured splashing against the petals like crystal clear orbs of yellow quicksilver?...

wish me luck on deciding which one to get and then scrounging up the money for it....

Oh, I almost forgot.... about my title.... it's because "ORCHID" is Greek for "testicle".... so like in surgery, when you want to cut off a guy's ball, it's called an "ORCHIectomy".... if you want to cut off both his balls, then it's called "MARRIAGE"... oh sorry!, did I say that out loud?.... I meant "bilateral ORCHIectomy"....

if you want to bring down a boy's un-descended testicle into his scrotum then it's an "ORCHIDopexy".... this is important to protect spermatogenesis and to make early detection of testicular malignancies more feasible as undescended testes are more predisposed to developing cancers compared to normally descended testes...

so now you know.... and knowing is half the battle!

TECHNORATI TAGS: orchid macros, phalaenopsis

Oncorhynchus mykiss

It was a beautiful spring day for a trip to the Glen Haffy Conservation Area....

C invited me to tag along with her and the fam for some fishing last week...

She had just got back from her great adventure and what better way for us to catch up than over a lazy day by the fishing hole.... I hadn't fished in ages, but I hadn't lost the touch if I do say so myself....

Helloh.... what's that then.... I think it's a Oncorhynchus mykiss.... say what? English please: a Rainbow Trout....

She's a bute....

Okay, it only LOOKS small from that angle....

See, it's actually pretty big...Get in my belly, so I can digest you.... click on fishy's eye a few times to see what happened before it got into my belly for the purposes of digestion....

Thanks again C, and thanks for the pics of yours truly.... just let me know when I can come with again....

Go fish folks!

TECHNORATI TAGS: rainbow trout, glen haffy, fishing

A Scene from the GO Bus

I miss commuting to the city.... whether it's on the train, bus, or the subway, I miss the interesting happenings and characters I encounter there.... I know the last time I blogged about the I said that nothing interesting ever happens there.... maybe by comparison, the subway had desensitized me to what is potentially bloggable ..... so instead the scenes had to come via my Sony Cybershot through a dirty window.... well, I guess I just needed to ride it a little longer....

I hop on the 11:50 express from Meadowvale Station to Union Station, I was starting my day late.... an express bus means that it won't be making any stops along the way and will take you straight to your destination.... of course that also means that it's already made a bunch of stops before it got to Meadowvale...

I turn from showing the driver my ticket, to a sea of occupied seats.... scanning down the aisle I find an opening.... beside the open seat sat a figure in a dark hoodie.... with the hood pulled up all the way, it yields only a faint profile of a face.... as I approach, I soon learn that the dark figure is a young lady as she un-hoods to reveal her young face.... young, but weathered by some unspoken burden .... we smile politely as I sit.... I sense a dark aura around my new companion.... it suddenly makes sense to me as to why this was the only remaining seat on board.... in an attempt to avoid conversation, I pull out my notes and start reading....

"Excuse me, do you have the time?" she asks me.... "oh, it's about 5 mins to 12" I respond.... I sense her question was merely an attempt at conversational overture, so I quickly return to my reading.... in the corner of my eye I see her peeking at my notes.... "What are you studying" she asks me.... here we go, I think to myself, for the next 40 mins you're going to be this girl's bitch.... conversation bitch that is.... "oh, I have an exam" I respond avoiding any further divulgence....

"oh" she responds....

"Are we far from Toronto?" she continues..... "oh, not too far, probably half an hour? Are you not from around here?".... I'm so stupid, I think to myself, why am I helping this conversation along?.... "I was in Vanier for a while" she says..... "oh, where's that?".... she looks at me amused at my innocence.... or is it my ignorance?..... "it's the women's prison in Milton".....

"oh" I replied....

How long were you there for, what did you do to get thrown in there, I hope it wasn't murder.... these are the questions that dart through my head, but I thought it rude to verbalize them.... I did my best to maintain a stoic visage.... "Ya, I was in there for a few months for drugs" she volunteered.... clairvoyance?.... or am I just that transparent..... offering my hand to her, I say "I'm Angelo, it's nice to meet you".... "I'm Margaret"....

And so for the next half hour, I was Margaret's bitch.... so long extra half hour of studying.... just take it as an opportunity to practice your listening skills I soothed myself.... Margaret expressed to me her desire to stop using drugs and clean up her life...."marijuana".... "cocaine".... "alcohol".... "heroin".... "you don't smoke do you?".... I guess she got the gist of what I was studying for.... she recounted to me her strong urge for a smoke since she got out of the joint.... like reflex, I began extolling the virtues of smoking cessation... shut up Angelo I tell myself.... I shift to extolling the virtues of quitting drugs.... in Margaret's eyes I could see that this was a concept she had already taken to heart....

"Could you tell me how to get to [someplace downtown]?".... I pull out my map of the city to try and locate [someplace downtown].... Margaret studies the map.... the bus pulls into Union Station.... Margaret expresses once again her desire to clean up her life.... I wish her well.... we prepare to part ways.... she hands me back my map.... "oh, you can keep that" I say, again wishing her well....

I hope she finds her way....

'Does the road wind up-hill all the way?'

'Yes, to the very end.'

'Will the day’s journey take the whole long day?'

'From morn to night, my friend.'

'But is there for the night a resting-place?'

'A roof for when the slow dark hours begin.'

'May not the darkness hide it from my face?'

'You cannot miss that inn.'

'Shall I meet other wayfarers at night?'

'Those who have gone before.'

'Then must I knock, or call when just in sight?'

'They will not keep you standing at that door.'

'Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?'

'Of labor you shall find the sum.'

'Will there be beds for me and all who seek?'

'Yea, beds for all who come.'

"Uphill"
~ C. Rossetti

TECHNORATI TAGS: GO bus ride